We have updated our Terms & Conditions. To continue, please confirm that you have read and accept these:

You have to agree to pocketmags.com's Terms & Conditions to proceed

This website use cookies and similar technologies to improve the site and to provide customised content and advertising. By using this site, you agree to this use. To learn more, including how to change your cookie settings, please view our Cookie Policy

An open letter to the transport minister

I write on behalf of myself, the directors and business members of Lochaber Chamber of Commerce to express our continued, and very serious, concerns about the published summer timetable from CalMac.

Lochaber Chamber of Commerce is appealing for an urgent economic impact analysis to be carried out before further harm is caused to the region. There are clear indicators of the adverse affect on business revenue, business profits and jobs from the downgraded 2016 CalMac service.

Public concerns about the Mallaig-Armadale ferry service are genuine and have been repeatedly voiced. At our meeting on October 31, 2016, you personally promised that you would not allow the service to be as poor as it was in 2016 again in 2017. Yet no evidence has been produced to restore confidence over business survival and jobs. The predicted level of CalMac cancellations is highly likely to cause the same traveller anger and circumnavigation and lower income for the area as in 2016.